


James

by eilu



Category: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Genre: Children, Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, Family, Gul Whiskers, Kid Fic, M/M, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Original Character(s), Post-Canon Cardassia
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-12
Updated: 2018-06-12
Packaged: 2019-05-21 09:11:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,614
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14912562
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eilu/pseuds/eilu
Summary: A few years after moving to Cardassia and adopting a daughter, Julian and Garak decide to try for a biological child.





	James

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Savorybreakfasts](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Savorybreakfasts/gifts).



> Based on a request from Savorybreakfasts.

**I.**

They had talked about it for months. Weighing options, looking at risks and success rates. It the end Julian told Garak he felt the Lakarian-B Protocol would be their best bet. "It'll take longer to get viable embryos than the newer methods" he had explained, "but Lakarian-B produces healthier babies in the long term, specially for hybrid births."

"Whatever you think is best, dear. After all, this is your field of expertise, not mine." 

"There's one other thing." Julian added quietly, almost as an afterthought. "Unlike the newer techniques, Lakarian-B can be fully done here on Cardassia. I'm not going to risk having a half-Augment born anywhere near Federation space."

Garak nodded, putting his arm around his husband's shoulder. Julian's last few years in Starfleet had been tainted with feelings of betrayal, what with the official bureaucracy's condescending attempts to pretend he didn't exist and Section 31's constant harassment. While that _had_ made it easier to convince him to move to Cardassia, Garak perfectly understood the the doctor's sentiment. 

\---

After the initial screenings, the process itself wasn't terribly complicated, at least on their end. There was a series of hormone hyposprays given over the course of three months before spermatogonium were harvested in a rather uncomfortable operation, but from there Garak rather lost track of the things, despite Julian's copious explanations. Something about turning one set into ova by exposing them to a series of hormones and growth mediums, then a period of maturation before combining the two for fertilization. From there it would take a week to know if any embryos were viable. 

\---

"Why haven't they called yet?" Julian muttered, fretfully pacing around the couch. "It's day 7!"

"Might I remind you that we're not their only patients?" Elim replied, barely glancing up from his knitting. Inwardly he felt as tense as his partner, but decided he had to be the calm one today.

A sudden beep on their home console had Julian scrambling to answer it, only to be followed by an incoherent yell and slam of the keyboard. "Telemarketers!" he snarled in disgust.

"Sit down! You'll wear a rut in the carpet!" Garak hissed as his young husband resumed his pacing.

"I can't. I'm too tense. I mean, we have Mila, I know what it is to be a dad, but this one is different. What if it didn't work? What if there are complications? There always the risk of pR-17 incompatibility. I swear I think I took the last hormone five minutes early…"

Garak sighed and resumed his knitting. He hoped the hospital would call soon.

\---

Julian peered at the incubator. It had taken them three tries before a successful implantation. "Hello there" he whispered at his future child.

Elim gazed at his husband and the little machine in wonder. To think that between the three of them a new life had come. It was still some weeks before anything was certain, but he could not help but feel hopeful about the future. 

\---

Julian hovered over the technicians installing the equipment. Tomorrow their baby would be coming home. Normally, parents were allowed to take the incubators a month after implantation, but since they were among the first recorded human-Cardassian hybrids on record the hospital had insisted on an extra month of monitoring. Julian couldn't fault them, as a doctor himself he understood the need for caution, but as a parent he was excited to have their child under their own roof, even if they were still in an incubator. 

The system was too big to go in the bedroom, and they had to rearrange the furniture in the living room for it. Their child had retained the vestigial eggshell Cardassian infants sometimes had, and needed a bigger incubator to accommodate that. The artificial circulation was also adjusted to provide more calcium and oxygen to account for this evolutionary quirk. Other than that, the development looked to be coming along nicely. 

"We're all done here doctor," Miss Harel announced with a smile and a nod of her head. "My colleague will be dropping by this evening to test the telemetry, but it all looks good to me." 

Julian beamed and thanked her profusely. Tomorrow couldn't come soon enough. 

 

**II.**

"The results confirm that the child's development is on track." Dr. Fedak told them, a PADD in hand. "And you have a son."

\---

"C'mon Elim," Julian wheedled as they sat on the couch. "We agreed after Mila that I would get to pick the name for the second one."

"Yes we did, but I didn't know you had such awful taste in names!"

"It's a perfectly good name. It's easy to pronounce in both Standard and Kardassi. It doesn't mean anything offensive in any language that we both know of. I don't know why you're so against James."

"I don't have anything against the name per se. It's the fact that you're going to name our son after your silly childish spy kink that I don't like."

"It's not a silly childish spy kink! You just don't understand!"

Garak started. Familiar as he was with all of his husband's mannerisms, he sensed there was something deeper here.

"You're right, Julian, I don't" he replied in a softer, conciliatory tone. "Tell me, so that I will."

"James Bond," the doctor began, licking his lips. "I first started reading him when I was eight or nine. Most of the books I'd been into then were heavier material, philosophy, advanced sciences, higher mathematics, that sort of thing. It was relaxing to have something light to read for a change. Just a fun, mindless romp through thrilling car chases and silly adventures.

Then I turned fifteen, and those books became my escape. Whenever I had to pretend I was something I'm not, I'd say to myself that I was a secret agent, under an assumed identity. It took some of the pressure off. That's what drew me deeper into the spy thing. The idea of living as someone else, of taking on this whole other role while you had to hide the real you. I really identified with that.

I know you think it's silly, but James Bond really helped me survive my teenage years, and that's why I'd like our son to have that name."

Wordlessly, Garak drew Julian into his arms. "Then James is a perfect name." he whispered into the human's ear.

Julian smiled and settled into his husband's embrace. Three weeks to go and they finally had a name.

 

**III.**

Mila was quietly sitting on the couch, cuddling Gul Whiskers, when her parents came home. She knew they had just come from a meeting with her teacher, and hoped she wasn't in trouble.

"Mila dear, we need to talk." yadik said softly as he sat beside her.

"I'm being good!" she exclaimed, letting their cat go. "I promise I am!"

"It's not that, luv" daddy added, squeezing himself on her other side. "You're not in trouble. Your teacher says you're being quiet in school. That you don't play as much anymore. Is something wrong?"

"No." she mumbled, not wanting to meet his eyes.

"Is it another child?" yadik suggested. "I told you you could punch them if they gave you a hard time. Do you want me to call their parents?"

"Nothing is wrong yadik" she replied.

"Mila, you lie like your daddy. Something is wrong. Please tell us so we can help."

Julian threw Elim a _look_. "Come on, poppet." he gently prodded.

Mila sat in sullen silence, looking between her yadik and her daddy. Finally the little girl couldn't hold it anymore. "It's James!" she cried, tears welling in her eyes. "He's your _real_ baby and when he comes you're not going to love me anymore!"  
I   
"Oh. Oh no, no, no luv. No. That's not how it is." Julian quickly replied. "Daddy and yadik will always love you." He tried to pull her into a hug, but she resisted.

"Mila" Elim whispered, unsure of what to say.

"You're our baby too, you're as much our baby as James is." Julian pressed on.

"But James is half-you. He's going to be more like you than I ever will." Mila replied.

"That doesn't matter, poppet. When we brought you home we became family. And family is forever."

"You promise?"

"We promise." Elim answered, pulling his daughter and husband into a group hug. This time Mila didn't resist.

\---

"Do you think she's okay?" Julian murmured into Elim's ear as they watched their daughter sleep. Today had reminded him of when they first saw her in the orphanage, and he did not want her falling back to her old anxieties.

"My dear, we can never say, but if we got her through the memories of war, I'm sure we can get her through this." 

She will need plenty of reassuring, Julian thought to himself, and perhaps some alone time with either of them. 

"Sleep well, luv." he whispered into her ear. Garak reached down to gently smooth her hair. And give Gul Whiskers a brief pat.

 

**IV.**

The nurse came in with a wailing infant. "He's in perfect health." she informed his family as she handed him to his father.

"James" Julian whispered, cradling his newborn son. At the sound of the familiar voice, the little baby began to quiet.

"Mila, you're a big sister now" Garak proudly declared, hefting his daughter up so she could see her brother.

"He looks funny" Mila giggled. And indeed, the brownish-gray baby, with shallow ridges and wispy, curly hair, looked like no other child born on Cardassia Prime before. But it didn't matter. To his parents he was perfect, and that was all that mattered.

**Author's Note:**

> Yes, all my stories belong in a single continuity.
> 
> Tumblr: eilupt.tumblr.com


End file.
